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Monday, May 18, 2026
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Current racing
- May 8 - 31: Giro d'Italia
Upcoming racing:
- May 19: Classique Dunkerque
- May 20 - 24: 4 Jours de Dunkerque
Latest completed racing:
- May 17: Rund um Köln
- May 16: Tour du Finistère
- May 10: Tro-Bro Léon
- April 26 - May 3: Tour of Turkey
- April 28 - May 3: Tour de Romandie
- May 1: Eschborn-Frankfurt
- April 26: Giro dell'Appennino
- April 23 - 26: Vuelta Asturias
- April 26: Liège-Bastogne-Liège
- April 20 - 24: Tour of the Alps
- April 22: La Flèche Wallonne
- April 19: Amstel Gold Race
- April 15 - 19: Tour of Hainan
- April 14 - 18: O Gran Camiño
- April 17: De Brabantse Pijl
- April 19:
Tour du Doubsrace cancelled - April 12: Paris-Roubaix
- April 6 - 11: Itzulia Basque Country (Tour of the Basque Country)
- April 7 - 10: Région Pays de la Loire Tour
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We posted the report from stage winner Jonas Vingegaard's Team Visma | Lease a Bike with the results.
Here's the Giro d'Italia report from GC leader Afonso Eulalio's Team Bahrain Victorious:
Afonso Eulálio defended the Maglia Rosa after Stage 9 of the Giro d’Italia, finishing fifth on the summit finish to Corno alle Scale after another solid day in the race lead. The Bahrain Victorious rider also retained the Maglia Bianca at the end of the first week of racing.
Afonso Eulalio will start stage ten on Tuesday in pink. Sirotti photo
The 184km stage from Cervia to Corno alle Scale was one of the main climbing tests of the opening part of the Giro, with a long flat opening section before the race headed into the Apennines for the final climbs. The stage was raced aggressively from the start, with attacks from kilometre zero before a breakaway eventually went clear.
The race became more selective on the climbs towards Corno alle Scale, where the favourites for the general classification started to move in the final kilometres. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) tried to anticipate the GC riders with a late attack, but the main contenders closed the gap near the finish before Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma – Lease a Bike) made the decisive move inside the final kilometre.
Vingegaard won the stage, with Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) second and Davide Piganzoli (Team Visma – Lease a Bike) third. Eulálio crossed the line in fifth place, limiting his losses well on a climb expected to suit the pure climbers and keeping the Maglia Rosa ahead of the Giro’s second rest day.
Afonso Eulálio said:
“First of all, it is perfect to arrive at the rest day in the pink jersey. That was one of the team’s objectives and we all fought for this. About today, this top five is crazy. I was fighting with the favourite group, with the GC guys, and I don’t know, it’s crazy.
"The whole team helped me again. All the staff, all the riders, everyone did their job perfectly. In the final, Damiano was there supporting me, and that is crazy. In my first race as a professional, Damiano won that race, and now I have Damiano Caruso helping me. I am living a dream.
"Now, first of all, we need to enjoy the rest day because every day we live with full pressure all the time. We finish the stage, we have interviews, we travel to the hotels, we have dinner very late, then we wake up, open the bags and close the bags again. So first we need to enjoy the rest day, go super easy, maybe find a good coffee, and then we will check with the team and go for the time trial. It is not my best discipline, but we need to fight.
"There are still two weeks to go, so I just need to go day by day. It is a long race. Some days are very long and in one day you can lose ten minutes, so we just need to continue day by day.
"I also want to say thank you to all the Portuguese people, and to everyone supporting me around the world. I ask them to continue believing in me, helping me and motivating me.”
Franco Pellizotti added:
“The guys were really focused at the start to let the right breakaway go for us. It was not easy, but they did a good job from the beginning. When the breakaway went, luckily there were no GC riders there, and for us that was perfect. We let the breakaway go, then Decathlon started pulling and we had to stay on the wheel and wait for the last climb.
"The guys did a great job around Afonso until the bottom of the final climb, and then in the end it was about his legs. This climb suited him very well and he did a very good result. I am not surprised by his performance today, but for sure I am super happy because we arrive at the rest day with the pink jersey, and we will also ride the time trial with the pink jersey.”
The Giro d’Italia now heads into its second rest day before resuming Stage 10 on Tuesday with a 42km individual time trial from Viareggio to Massa.
Stage nine fourth-place Thymen Arensman's Team Netcompany INEOS posted this Giro report:
Thymen Arensman rounded off the first week of the Giro d’Italia with a strong climbing performance to finish fourth on stage nine.
Arensman was first to respond when Jonas Vingegaard (Visma -Lease a Bike) and Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) went clear of the lead group on the final ascent, measuring his effort to gain time on other GC rivals, before climbing to fourth behind stage winner Vingegaard.
The result moved the Dutch rider up to sixth overall ahead of Monday’s rest day, with Egan Bernal 15th overall after finishing 17th on the stage, 1:12 behind Vingegaard.
Third-place Davide Piganzoli leads fourth-place Thymen Arensman across the line.
Following the intense and lengthy tussles to establish an early breakaway that was a feature of the previous two days, there was an expectation of similar as the riders rolled out of Cervia on the 184km stage.
However, the category one summit finish to Corno alle Scale loomed large and saw teams with GC riders reluctant to commit to the largely flat parcours, with a breakaway featuring riders that were not a threat to the maglia rosa forming early on.
Netcompany INEOS remained safely in the bunch, preserving energy for later. The Grenadiers were attentive when required and came to the fore on the run in to the Querciola climb, to help position Arensman and Egan Bernal for the final part of the stage.
Numbers dwindled in the bunch as the gradient increased on the climb to Corno alle Scale until Gall attacked and went clear with VIngegaard to split the lead group.
Arensman remained the best placed of the GC riders, setting his own tempo that saw him finish fourth to move up to sixth overall at the end of the first week.
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Here's the Giro news from Lennert Van Eetvelt's Team Lotto-Intermarché:
It was a strong day for Lotto–Intermarché in Stage 9 of the Giro d'Italia today, as Lennert Van Eetvelt climbed alongside the best climbers toward the finish atop the Corno Alle Scale. His effort was rewarded with an impressive 13th place finish. However, most of the attention went to Toon Aerts, who managed to join the day’s breakaway.
With 72 kilometers remaining, Aerts joined a counterattack together with Giulio Ciccone and Diego Ulissi. The move proved successful, as nearly 15 kilometers later the trio bridged across to the leading group. Aerts comfortably followed the moves, although that did not exactly make him popular among the others. “I hope they don’t take it personally,” Aerts defended himself. “We were racing tactically, they have to understand that. Today I was riding entirely in support of Lennert Van Eetvelt, and besides, I’m not exactly a climber…”
Lennert Van Eetvelt gets his bike before the start of Giro stage two. Sirotti photo
“When Ciccone went solo, that was my signal to continue at my own pace and stop fighting for the front. I managed to stay with those guys for a very long time, but I also had to make sure I didn’t go too deep. Once the peloton started closing in, I tried to recover for a minute and then do a bit more work for Lennert. Not that I could still do much, but still. I’m very happy with what we showed today. Because of the well-known circumstances, we’re down to only five riders here, but if we can race the way we did today, then we still have two beautiful weeks ahead of us.”
Van Eetvelt also looked back positively on the final stage before the rest day. “I briefly considered following Ciccone when he attacked. In the end I didn’t, but he lasted much longer than I expected,” Van Eetvelt explained. “Toon did go with him, and that was really impressive. Those final 25 kilometers of climbing were a serious effort, but the nature of the climb — with flatter recovery sections alternating with very steep ramps- suits me better than the long mountain stages. It means more punchy climbing. When our group caught Ciccone, I tried to squeeze out whatever I still had left. I just came up short of following the top ten riders, but I can’t be unhappy with my first part of this Giro.”
Giulio Ciccone's Team Lidl-Trek posted this Giro report:
The Italian superstar - who had already worn the Maglia Rosa at this year's Giro d'Italia - was able to go on his first proper stage hunt of this year's race.
Giulio Ciccone has never shied away from talking about his goals in Italy, eyeing stage wins while his Canadian teammate fights for the General Classification, and Stage 9 was the first round of a new Giro d’Italia for the 31-year-old.
Below he talks through his effort and his feelings after heartbreak saw him caught inside two kilometers to go after the General Classification contenders chased him down in the final moments of the day.
Giulio Ciccone in pink after stage four. Sirotti photo
Post-race Reaction"
"Even today they didn't want me up there from the start, and I had to spend quite a lot to try at get there, I tried many times. It was just an annoying tempo in the bunch and I was also a bit annoyed to tell the truth. That's why when I saw the opportunity, I decided I had nothing to lose. On the small kick, I tried to jump because the breakaway was close, but even there I spent quite a lot to close this gap.
"I was feeling quite good on the last climb, so I tried to give everything, but it was not enough. The gap was not too big and the efforts from before were, for sure, killing the legs. At the end, it was a good try and for sure, maybe in the next stages, when we have some more climbing in the start, it will be much better for me will be more difficult to control for the others."
And here's the Giro report from Team Soudal Quick-Step:
Corno alle Scale wasn’t the most demanding climb this Giro d’Italia had to offer, but the presence of some steep ramps in the final two kilometers, where the average gradient reached 10%, was enough to separate the general classification men.
Returning at the Corsa Rosa after 22 years, this first-category ascent witnessed a battle between the pre-race favorites after the last survivor of the day-long breakaway was caught. The victory went to Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), while Giro di Sardegna winner Filippo Zana concluded the day as the highest-ranked Soudal Quick-Step rider. Best sprinter of the race so far, Paul Magnier concluded the stage well inside the time limit and made it nine ciclamino jerseys in a row, a remarkable performance in what’s just his second Grand Tour.
Paul Magnier just after finishing stage three. Sirotti photo
Monday brings a well-deserved rest day for the riders, before the race resumes in Tuscany with this edition’s sole individual time trial, a demanding 42km test against the clock which should change many things in the overall standings.
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We posted the report from second-place Fred Wright's Team Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team with the results.
Here's the report from race winner Laurence Pithie's Team Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe:
Laurence Pithie has won the German classic Rund um Köln. It was the New Zealander's first victory in the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe jersey.
The 23-year-old won in the sprint of a three-man breakaway group.
Laurence followed Fred Wright's attack with 46 kilometres to go. The Briton received support from a team-mate shortly afterwards. The trio rode for a long time with a lead of around half a minute on the peloton through the Rhineland mountains and the final kilometres back to Cologne. Due to numerous attacks, which made it impossible to follow the peloton in a controlled manner, the cushion should be enough.
Laurence Pithie wins the 2026 Rund um Köln.
In the home race for his team, Laurence took Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe's tally of victories to 15 for the season. The last time a rider from the team structure won the race was Danny van Poppel in 2023. It was the seventh success in Cologne.
Laurence Pithie: "This is, of course, a very important victory for the team. We had a few cards to play here. My job was to follow groups. But we made it through so I can win the sprint. Since I had Jordi in the peloton, I was able to hold back a little while working the race. That paid off in the end."
Laurence, however, had the freedom to go with the attacks on the lap featuring the Bensberg and Sand climbs. It was a bit unfortunate that he ended up in a group with two riders from the same team. But because the peloton was never far behind, the other two didn’t have a chance to play games. In the sprint, Laurence handled it really cleverly; he was very strong.e was really clever in the sprint, he was very strong."